ELECTRICAL AND STRUCTURAL-PROPERTIES OF OXYGEN-PRECIPITATION INDUCED EXTENDED DEFECTS IN SILICON

Although the oxygen precipitation process has been extensively studied during the last two decades, there still exists controversy concernin g the electrical activity of the precipitates and the associated exten ded defect complexes. Therefore in the present study a unique combinat ion of complementary characterization techniques is used to gain a bet ter insight into the structural and electrical properties of oxygen-pr ecipitation induced extended defects. TEM and LST are used for the str uctural analyses, while DLTS, FL, lifetime measurements, EBIC analyses and low frequency noise spectroscopy are used for the electrical char acterization. The experimental observations are compared with relevant data available in the literature. Strong evidence is given that in cl ean processed wafers, the dominant recombination activity is associate d with the dislocations, rather than with the precipitates themselves.